24 arrested at Occupy Albany

Demonstrators taken away after curfew by state troopers at Occupy Albany site

DAYELIN ROMAN and JENNIFER GIS, Times Union

By DAYELIN ROMAN and JENNIFER GISH, Staff writers

Updated 11:36 am, Sunday, November 13, 2011

Bradley Russell was arrested by State Police just before 3 p.m. on Saturday after he built an "illegal structure" in Lafayette Park, a small section of state land that borders the Occupy Albany encampment. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Bradley Russell was arrested by State Police just before 3 p.m. on...

Occupy Albany arrest
/ Times Union

An Occupy Albany sign is seen in Lafayette Park, which is owned by the state. Some say they are upset with the governor's reaction to their protest. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

ALBANY -- Police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters late Saturday after they crossed from city land into state-owned Lafayette Park and stayed past 11 p.m.

Protesters chanting "Shame on Cuomo" stood by on the sidewalk as others were arrested and taken away in State Police vans. The arrests were peaceful, though protesters yelled and chanted while the demonstrators were being hauled away by police. Demonstrators were charged with trespass and issued appearance tickets to appear in Albany City Court at a later date.

State Police gave several warnings via a megaphone before making the arrests. They told protesters they would be arrested if they did not leave the state-owned land.

The second of two vans that had been backed up into the park pulled away just after 11:30 p.m. with a load of the arrested demonstrators. Other demonstrators had been taken away earlier. Three State Police vans had been idling on North Hawk Street since at least 9:30 p.m.

After the second van pulled away, the other protesters stood on the sidewalk on the corner of North Hawk and State streets, right across from the Capitol. They were told by authorities that they would not be arrested if they stood there.

Police also urged reporters in the park to leave or face arrest.

After the second van filled with protesters pulled away, dozens of demonstrators milled about on the sidewalk and on the fringes of the park. The people serving as the legal team at the protest were speaking with police. A fourth police van arrived at about 11:40 as the remaining demonstrators sang "This Land is Your Land."

Geordie O'Brien, a legal observer for Occupy Albany, stood by as the demonstrators were arrested and consulted with police as the protesters were handcuffed. "The police have showed professionalism and restraint in the absence of provocation," she said. She praised the level of cooperation shown by the police as they checked off the names of the arrested with a list kept organizers.

Earlier Saturday, State Police had charged an Occupy Albany protester with trespassing on state land.

Bradley Russell was arrested by State Police just before 3 p.m. after he built an "illegal structure" in Lafayette Park, a small section of state land that borders the Occupy Albany encampment, which has been set up in the Albany city-owned Academy Park. He was charged with trespass and then was released by State Police shortly afterward. He immediately returned to the encampment.

Russell had been building a "freedom fort" in Lafayette Park out of squares of foam board, packing tape, an image of the Bill of Rights and protest signs and planned to stay in it past the park's curfew, challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has vowed to arrest anyone who remains in the park after 11 p.m.

Russell said his constitutional rights to assemble and speak out trump any curfew or rule about structures in the park, and he will challenge Cuomo through the courts to protect his rights.

"(Cuomo) kept saying, 'I'll enforce the law and I'll enforce the curfew,' and I kept thinking, 'How can you do both?' " said Russell, a 39-year-old Albany anthropologist who teaches at two local schools he declined to name and is married and has a 6-year-old daughter.

Russell, who had dressed in a Civil War Union soldier's uniform for the occasion, had just started to add American flags to his fort when the arrest was made in front of a couple dozen onlookers, some recording the arrest with their smartphones.

The Occupy Albany protest, an echo to Manhattan's Occupy Wall Street and part of several such protests around the country, is meant to raise concerns about what protesters term economic inequality and corporate power. Saturday was the group's 23rd day camping in city-owned Academy Park.

While a half-dozen troopers watched from the sidewalk earlier Saturday afternoon, Russell constructed his fort. Before he started building, Russell said police told him he'd be arrested for violating the curfew. He was also told no wooden structures were allowed, so he said it would be up to police to remove him from his fort.

Russell said police spent about 30 minutes watching him assemble his freedom fort, but didn't move in until he started to put up American flags. He speculated authorities acted then because it would have looked bad to be seen cutting through patriotic symbols to get to him at curfew.

"Andrew Cuomo is trying to play political games with our Bill of Rights, and he's going to lose because me and Brad are chess masters," Alkurabi said.

He said he and others are disappointed by Cuomo, whom they say seems to side with Wall Street rather than with people like Alkurabi, a social activist and student who spent thousands of hours campaigning for Cuomo.